1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an electronic card connector, and in particular to an electronic card connector for readily connecting an electronic card to an edge of a circuit board.
2. The Prior Art
An electronic card connector releasably connects an electronic card, such as a PCMCIA card, to a main board of a host machine for expansion of resources thereof. Examples of electronic card connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,470,259 and 5,605,463 and Taiwan Patent Nos. 83110392, 84112504 and 84200350.
Conventionally, the electronic card connector is directly mounted to a circuit board by soldering contact elements of the electronic card connector to the circuit board. FIGS. 1 and 2 of the attached drawings show a conventional electronic card connector 1 directly mounted to a circuit board 2. The electronic card connector 1 comprises a plurality of contact elements 11 securely retained in an insulative housing 10. Each contact element 11 has a tail end 110 properly shaped for being soldered to a corresponding conductive pad 20 formed on the circuit board 2 thereby establishing electrical connection therebetween. The contact elements 11 are individually soldered to the circuit board 20 resulting in a complicated manufacturing process. Furthermore, the contact elements must be formed with a high degree of precision for being uniformly soldered to the circuit board.
It is thus desirable to have an electronic card connector that eliminates the problems mentioned above.